The Skull
by Gunman44
Summary: Frank Castle's nephew, his only surviving relative, wants vengence on the world for the loss of his family, the only thing in his way are the Teen Titans.
1. Chapter 1

The Skull

Jason walked slowly to school that black day. He carried two human sized duffle bags, each filled with infamous items that the liberal media used to scare their viewers, as well as an ALICE pack filled to the brim. His long duster caught a breeze and billowed up behind him revealing two gleams of silver, one on each thigh. He tugged his coat closed as best he could, but the pistol butts still twinkled in the late morning sun. He reached the school parking lot just after 11:30. He put down his bags behind a battered old Chevy pickup. He then fastened the bottom two snaps on his coat; he couldn't afford an early warning. Then he sat to brief himself once more on his plan. After repacking the map in the ALICE, Jason Castle ran the previous weekend through his mind.

He woke up Saturday depressed because he had to stay home while his parents had gone to Puerto Rico for a family reunion. He had to stay behind because there was a history test on Tuesday. After goofing off all morning the doorbell rang. His first thought was that Gadget, his computer oriented (nerdy) friend, had come over. However, the smile that had filled his face with the thought of his friend vanished as he saw the two police officers behind the door. Both officers were about the same height, shorter than Jason by and inch or two. Their badges gleamed while their faces squinted with a solemn stone-like appearance at the teen.

"Sir, are you Jason Castle?" asked the white, portly officer. He had a faint Irish accent. He removed his cap to reveal his black slicked back hair.

"Y-yes what…" In his confusion and fear, Jason could not finish his sentence. The other officer was a skinny but muscular black man with a salt and pepper beard. He too, removed his cap revealing a shining, hairless scalp. He bore a look of pure anguish before opening his mouth to speak.

"Jason, I'm Lieutenant Bourne and this is Detective Willis. We sorry we have to tell you this but there was a…," he paused for a moment and looked up into the sun," …a problem at the family reunion." He finished looking back a Jason.

"A… problem…" Jason repeated unsurely.

"Yes we'd like it if you'd come down to the station with us, we'll have you back before nine tonight."

"Sure just let me get my wallet." Jason proceeded to spend his entire afternoon learning the gruesome details of how he was the only Castle still alive, of how unknown gunmen cut down his helpless parents, of how they executed his favorite uncle Frank. Then they just sent him home. The sent him to an empty house, that would forever be empty. They brought him back Sunday to identify his parents and to ask questions like "did your parents have any enemies?" How the fuck was he supposed to know. He was their son. They didn't tell him things like that. The officers told him he could take Monday off from school. Since Jason's parents had basically adopted him, Gadget was given the day off and came over to avoid his drunken father. Jason told him his idea and they turned it into a plan.

Now Jason questioned his motive. How was this going to solve his grief? Then a quote from his uncle Frank crossed his mind. He quickly resolved to the task at hand and loaded the rest of his magazines and waited for Gadget to show up. They would trap everyone inside. It would be easy the windows were designed to keep people from sneaking out and there were only two doors, one of which Gadget should have locked. Just as his watch turned 11:45 Gadget rolled up in his customized Barracuda he had been working on since he was thirteen. Dressed in a mix of combat gear and civilian clothing, gadget looked like a Mercenary. Jason tossed him the bushmaster carbine and picked up his own AK-107. Since his uncle Frank was a licensed gunsmith, and a vet, both weapons were modified full-auto.

"The whole school should be in assembly right now." Announced Gadget solemnly

"Did you cut the power?" asked Jason popping a last shell into the 870.

"The phone lines too."

"Then let's rock!" The two gunmen entered quietly through the front door and chained the door behind them. Guns in hand they proceeded to the gym, watched only by cameras. When Jason and Gadget reached the dual set of double doors they slung their rifles, and drew their side arms. For Jason, dual Ruger mark IIs, and for Gadget, a single H&K .45. They assumed, since every assembly they had attended conformed to the formula, the two Police officers stationed at the school would be standing next to the doors. One for each set, to the left of each pair.

The armed duo began a countdown in nods. On the third nod they burst through the doors and blasted two holes in the legs of the police officers. Seconds later Jason had disarmed them and destroyed their radios. He chained them to a pipe together with their own cuffs. Since there were only two exits too the gym, one being locked and the other guarded by two gunmen the large crowd of teachers and students gathered in the center of the basket ball court turned stage for a "say no to drugs" speaker. Gadget covered the officers with the bushmaster while Jason addressed the crowd.

"Good morning. There is going to be a slight change in plan today. Now, I want every one to lie down on the floor with your hands behind your head…" The shocked students and teachers looked at him with gaping mouths. "I said…GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!!" Jason screamed. In a great sweeping movement the students and faculty dropped to their stomachs and placed their hands behind their heads.

Robin awoke with a start. A string of nightmares had set upon him like a pestilence in the last week. Each had been longer, and more disturbing than the last. They all started with a sillouette: a teenager. The teen is always carrying two large bags and has a long billowing coat, next a mass of awed students and teachers, lastly a pool of blood around a cross. After the last image, everything is blurry and hard to discern. Robin feared that the dreams might be a sign, but how could he know?

A blaring alarm tore Robin from his ponderings. He ran out of his chamber and to the common room of the tower. The rest of the team followed sleepily.

"What the hell, man?" said Beast boy wiping sleep from his eyes.

"Yes, what of the hell?" groaned Starfire, with a surprising confidence, despite the fact that she did not know what "what the hell" meant.

"There's a problem at Gothem High School!" Robin spoke with intensity having realized what a situation at a school would mean. Hostages, and lots of them.

Author's note: Please leave reviews or comments, especially if you want the story to continue. Also this is a fictional story; all elements are figments of my imagination placed onto paper, well pixels, for entertainment. I accept no responsibility for any actions of the reader. Advise to readers hoping for romantic pairings: look elsewhere, romance is not my style so it is unlikely there will be any in this story or any other of my works, sorry.


	2. Chapter 2

"I told you I won't fucking compromise!" Jason yelled into the radio. In a fit of rage inspired by the police's pitiful negotiation attempts, Jason threw the radio to the ground and shot it to bits with his AK-107. As the nearby hostages cringed from fear and pain that the loud burst caused, Jason moved to gadget, a few feet too his right. Both gunmen stood in the bleachers overseeing the cowering mass gathered on the basketball court.

"Did you find out why all the staff were in the gym office?" said Jason, rubbing his temples.

"Yeah, they were being briefed on a new anti-drug program. What'd they want?" asked Gadget.

"Ten hostages to turn the water back on. I told them I offered one and that was it. So, how are we going to secure the whole school? Or are you still going to be fucking mysterious about you're 'great idea.'"

"Right there." Gadget answered as he pointed too a much more calm group of male students sitting in a separate clump. Jason recognized several friends among the group, as well as several infamous legends of Gotham High. Two with weapons counts on their records, two who were the antagonists of two of the most spectacular fights ever seen (leaving one victim in a coma for three weeks), and the last a pyromaniac who had been caught in his Junior High with over 200lbs of military grade High Explosive. Just goes to prove that suburban High Schools are the Mecca of the David Koreshs and Timothy McVeighs of the future.

"Do you seriously think that's funny!? No way are we gonna recruit some reject mother fuckers to help us. Hell, they'll probably kill us as soon as they get a weapon."

"No dude, while I was tying them up I talked to them and they are psyched that we are doing this, and only a little pissed 'cause we beat 'em to it."

"I still don't trust them."

"Then go talk to them yourself." Without a word Jason walked over to the group. He caught the eye of the pyro first. There was a spark of cold madness there as the pyro smiled under his bald head. Next the two brawlers, one with a short Mohawk and the other with a crew cut. Both had squat, meaty frames that contrasted to the gangly thinness of the pyro. They also shared a dull and dumb expression on their faces. The first of the two with weapons counts had medium length, yet unkempt black hair that blocked his ears and eyes but did not quite reach down to his neck. His arrest was for the possession of over 47 different bladed weapons on his person, including a twelve inch Kukri style machete. The rumor was that he was one of the best knife fighter's in the city, and that he supposedly fought in an illegal underground fight club, but that seemed a little farfetched. The other had long slightly wavy light brown hair that was just as unkempt as the first's. He was of medium build and had a short goatee which he seemed to keep meticulously groomed compared to his hair. He had thirteen different counts on his record, two for illegal concealed carry of a handgun, two for the illegal possession of a handgun, three for the illegal manufacture and distribution of ammunition, and six for the illegal manufacture or modification of firearms. He had stolen two pistols, a police issue Glock 17, and a .45 Kimber M1911A1; to this day no one knows how he did it. He also produced "special" ammo which he sold at school, things like poisoned or explosive bullets, high velocity rounds, and something that Jason believed to be fake, until he was shown one by Gadget who had a fixation with special gizmos, especially those of the lethal variety. It was a jacketed hollow point bullet with a stainless steal cone, inserted instead of a standard lead core; Gadget said he called it the "ultimate penetrator." The last counts are somewhat self explanatory; he both made silencers and modified weapons to be full auto. Some of the weapons he modified he kept, but most he sold, there was no doubt he could be a valuable resource in their takeover, but could he be trusted, could any of them be trusted.

The school was partially surrounded by police cars and news vans when the Titans showed up. The S.W.A.T. teams hadn't yet been mobilized, but there was no doubt they'd be there within the hour. Robin immediately set out through the maze of cars to find the police chief. The chief was standing next to a large SUV swearing at a telephone hand set. "Damn machine! Why can't I raise the other side?"

"Chief Brady!" Robin called when he was one car away.

"Robin! Boy am I glad to see you. I assume the rest of the Titans are with you?" The chief's face was flushed with frustration as he put down the hand set and looked up at Robin

"Of course, what's the problem with you're radio?" Robin responded striding up to the back of the vehicle.

"It's our phone to the shooters inside, doesn't seem to be working on the other end. Gather up the rest of the gang and I'll give you a sit-rep." huffed the chief as he sat on the tailgate of the SUV. The chief was not overweight by any means, but he was nearing his retirement. Chief Brady had protected and served the streets of Gotham for over 50 years. Robin waved his hand and the other Titans joined him in their respective fashions. Starfire floated calmly, while Raven glided in a strict line. Beast Boy scuttled under shoe and tire in the form of a mouse and Cyborg simply leaped the 20 or so meters.

"Okay, we've got two shooters, Jason Castle and Mikhail "Gadget" Rifter. Castle waited in the parking lot while Rifter cut the power and locked the back door of the Auditorium. That left the front door as the only escape and they locked those when they entered. Everyone in the school including the two resource officers stationed there were in the auditorium for an assembly. The gunmen have now secured everyone in the auditorium in the past two hours. We secured and searched Rifter's vehicle, a 1979 Plymouth barracuda, we found a manifesto titled "Karma" It's being analyzed right now."

"'Karma', huh?" Robin stroked his chin "Sounds like there's something that happened earlier to start this. But we'll leave that to the investigators, please continue chief."

"Just now we tried to convince the shooters to give us ten hostages and in return we would turn the water back on. Castle said they would only send one, I asked for a compromise at five. Castle became irate and said he would not compromise, and then the line went dead."

"Well, lets get in there and start breakin' faces!" Cyborg said bringing up his fists.

"Yeah, lets do what Cyborg said!" Beast Boy chimed in raising a pair of gorilla fists.

"Wait, there's one more thing" Chief Brady calmly stood up, "The hostages are wired with plastic explosives and ball bearings. Their living claymore mines. Castle specifically said if you guys showed up in the school he would detonate the explosives.

Our bomb and S.W.A.T. teams are on their way with and ETA of two minutes. Wait until we disarm the bombs and then the gunmen are all yours.

Author's Note: Gunman44 here, sorry this was so long in the making, and so short but with a busy school year and beginning of summer my writing had to take leave. Please review, especially if you see something wrong. I plan on making this story a few chapters long so bear with me through the exposition. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner, but, as a procrastinator, I can make no promises.


End file.
